Today, we are breaking down Solana. Founded in 2017 by an ex-wireless engineer from Qualcomm, Solana is a layer one blockchain like Bitcoin and Ethereum that has been built to process transactions as quickly and cheaply as possible. Where Bitcoin can process about ten transactions per second and Ethereum around 30, Solana can handle over 60,000 transactions per second, and it can do so at a fraction of the cost. Unsurprisingly, Solana’s network has attracted huge interest from developers, users, and investors alike over the last year.   In this breakdown, we cover the killer app for decentralized ledgers, the history of on-chain transaction speeds, and the fundamental difference between software and blockchain technology. We then delve into the architecture that has enabled Solana’s speed unlock and look at the platform’s potential to become a huge piece of the world’s financial infrastructure. To help me break down Solana, I’m joined by Kyle Samani, co-founder and managing partner at Multicoin Capital.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:02:49] - [First question] - How he views the opportunity set of blockchain technology   [00:06:37] - The evolution of transactions-per-second from Bitcoin to new cryptocurrencies [00:13:43] - Why does decentralized finance matter versus centralized finance [00:18:34] - What is Solana and the scope and scale of it today [00:20:31] - Reintroducing costs with DeFi software compared to prior zero marginal costs [00:24:13] - How to go from 30 transactions a second to 30,000 and make the system work [00:31:03] - What about Solana’s design code that allows it to take advantage of parallelism [00:33:05] - Differences between proof of history and proof of work [00:39:05] - The tokenomics of Solana, their distribution setup, and what owning SOL offers [00:46:24] - What Solana’s blockchain will enable for application development [00:55:15] - The emerging adoption and creation of social tokens   [00:57:40] - Thoughts on regulation and security in regards to Solana [00:59:41] - Competition that Solana may face and layer one blockchains in general [01:04:54] - What has him most excited about Solana and the landscape writ large [01:08:11] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying the Solana story [01:11:23] - Leaning into your differences and the team behind the project   

Today, we are breaking down Sky Mavis, the company behind the NFT-based game, Axie Infinity. Built by a team with a long history in gaming, Axie Infinity was launched in 2018 with the idea that a blockchain-based “play-to-earn” model could create more aligned incentives between game creators and game players long-term.   Axie is one of the most incredible examples of speed-to-scale I’ve seen, with the game reporting $100,000 of revenue in January, over $190,000,000 of revenue in July, and over $360,000,000 in August.   In this breakdown, we cover the basics of Axie and how gameplay is similar to classics such as Pokemon. We dive into the economic model, how Sky Mavis generates revenue, how players earn money, and how this is all enabled by the blockchain. We discuss the importance of gameplay vs. the economic ecosystem and examine the sustainability of Axie from various angles.   To help break down Sky Mavis, Patrick O’Shaughnessy is joined by Aleksander Larsen, co-founder of Sky Mavis, and Stephen McKeon, Partner at Collab+Currency, an early investor in Sky Mavis.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:03:00] - [First question] - How many people are playing Axie and how quickly it’s grown [00:04:03] - What play-to-earn means and how money flows through a digital ecosystem [00:05:03] - A basic overview of the user experience of playing Axie Infinity  [00:07:23] - What an Axie is, its features, how they’re generated, and how many exist [00:09:32] - Monster NFTs and the fungible SLP in-game currency [00:15:00] - Converting the SLP to fiat currency and how low-friction the process is [00:16:40] - Are people actually playing the game or just speculating on the game’s assets [00:23:14] - The AXS governance token, how to earn it, and what it enables for token holders [00:27:08] - What the opportunity set looks like for Axie from an investor standpoint [00:29:39] - Finding a balance between offering digital work and creating a player incentive  [00:33:29] - Mystic Axie and what they are generally worth today [00:34:42] - How much the community will have to expand and build on top of the game [00:38:48] - Overview of the plots of land in the Axie metaverse and what they might unlock  [00:41:57] - What a sidechain is and how the Ronin wallet works  [00:46:41] - Why what’s good for Ronin is also good for Ethereum [00:48:53] - Defining a bridge and how it differs from an exchange [00:50:24] - Lessons learned about good tokenomics and token design  [00:55:04] - The biggest potential risks to the future of Axie Infinity and its growing popularity  [00:57:13] - What an ideal future looks like for the metaverse and Axie infinity [01:01:09] - How the world is changing and why that unlocks value for play-to-earn games [01:04:03] - Asset ownership inversion and how big this could become in the future [01:05:24] - The most surprising things that have happened since joining Axie Infinity [01:06:55] - How he thinks about assessing new opportunities in crypto and the metaverse [01:09:19] - Where you can go to learn more about Axie and dabble in the game